Let’s make one thing clear – if you think it is even remotely relevant that cocaine was found in the car of a man whose was illegally searched by Cleveland County Sheriff’s deputies, than you have a lot to learn about the United States Constitution.

And another thing – as the Founders discovered, there is simply no way to craft search and seizure protection that somehow anticipates who is going to be guilty and who is going to be innocent. The Fourth Amendment, necessarily, protects ALL of us.

And one more thing – if you thought this week, simultaneously, the Superior Court Judge Nathanial Poovey was wrong to suppress evidence from the I-85 traffic stop AND that the IRS was wrong to target conservative groups with audits, you need to think through things a little more thoroughly.

Now, let’s start from the beginning.

Some years back, Cleveland County became notorious for its ICE team, which set up shop on the short stretch of I-85 that passes through Cleveland County.

The ICE team unabashedly targeted folks transporting drugs. And, many believe, in the process the team targeted Hispanic drivers.

To his credit, Sheriff Alan Norman renamed that unit and moved its focus away from the interstate, although there are still operations conducted on the interstate.

Yet, the targeting of Hispanic drivers appears to have continued. One defense attorney claims that 70 percent of stops on that stretch were of Hispanic drivers.

In the case at hand, the evidence for probable cause appears flimsy at best.

Put yourself in this situation:

Let’s say you are driving down the interstate in some New York state. For a short period, you are going 75 in a 65 – still a very a common speed that rarely results in a ticket. You have energy drinks in your cupholders. You have a valid license and registration. You are pulled over. You cooperate, but you are nervous. It’s a long way from home, this guy talks with a funny accent and you don’t want to get a ticket. We’ve all been in this spot – heart racing, fidgety, nervous. Maybe even your hands start shaking.

At this point, are you comfortable with being the subject of a full-scale search by a K-9 unit? Do you think that’s OK?

It’s not.

Now, what if you are black and these same circumstances occur in an exclusively white community.

It’s wrong.

Or what if you are white and this happens in an exclusively Hispanic community.

It’s wrong.

The Fourth Amendment’s genesis was abuses by the British crown in colonial times. British revenue agents would conduct roving searches under the guise of what were called “writs of assistance.”

Famed colonial leader James Otis challenged these writs, using the now famous words, “A man’s house is his castle.” This is one of the reasons why Fourth Amendment protection is vital to the republic. The other is that it provides a check on the power of the state. Allowing unfettered searches without probable cause or warrants is simply an invitation for abuse of power.

We have seen this in the IRS and Associated Press scandals this week. A government that no longer believes it is bound by rights of privacy and warrantless search might actually catch more criminals. But it will also, eventually, savage the liberty of innocents.

The problem with Fourth Amendment protection is there is no way to craft laws that protect the innocent while allowing searches of the guilty to be conducted. You either protect everyone’s rights to privacy, or no one’s. Pointing to the “ends” of this arrest is like saying we could end all crime with martial law. Or that we could end all drug trafficking by forcing citizens to show papers at checkpoints when passing from state to state.

Perhaps our community became a tad safer when that cocaine was found on I-85.